PEN's 2014 Shortlists Are Out, So Let's Take a Look at Who's On 'Em

On Wednesday morning, the world got their first look at PEN's 2014 shortlists across all categories, and as expected, each is packed tight with major contenders. The literary organization gives out 17 different awards including biography, translation, poetry, sportswriting, picture books, lifetime achievement recognition, and more, but let's zoom into a couple of categories in particular and highlight their nominees.

First: the $25,000 2014 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize, which goes to a debut novelist or short story-writer for a work that's not only outstanding, but also "suggests great promise." (No pressure.) The winner, judged by Charles Bock, Jonathan Dee, Fiona Maazel, and Karen Shepard, will be selected from:

A Constellation of Vital Phenomena (Hogarth) by Anthony Marra

Brief Encounters With the Enemy (The Dial Press) by Saïd Sayrafiezadeh

Let's also take a peek at the PEN Open Book Award, worth $5,000, which goes to an exceptional book-length work by a writer of color published last year. Judged by Catherine Chung, Randa Jarrar, and Monica Youn, the nominees are 4/5 women, which I'm all about: